This invention relates to marine propulsion devices, such as outboard motors and stern drive units, and, more particularly, to lower units therefor.
Lower units for marine propulsion devices typically include an upright or angle drive shaft which is rotatably supported in a drive shaft housing and drives a propeller through a gearing arrangement mounted in a gearcase housing connected to the lower end of the drive shaft housing. A propeller shaft is rotatably supported in one or more bearings carried by a bearing carrier member which is supported from and anchored to the interior of the gearcase housing. Prior art arrangements used for anchoring the bearing carrier member to the gearcase housing usually employed several components and did not satisfactorily prevent the bearing carrier from rotating relative to the gearcase housing during operation.
Filed herewith with the Patent Office is a copy of a drawing illustrating a prior art arrangement for rotatably supporting a propeller shaft in the lower unit of the marine propulsion device.